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Help us help make California’s justice better and fairer for all. Support the California Racial Justice Act for All (AB 256) and the Sentencing Reform Act of 2021 (SB 300). Please read the letters below and sign your support using the form at the bottom of this page. Death Penalty Focus will submit these letters on your behalf to Honorable Senator Dave Cortese and Honorable Assemblymember Ash Kalra.
Honorable Senator Dave Cortese
State Capitol
Sacramento, CA 95814
Re: Support – SB 300 (Cortese), the Sentencing Reform Act of 2021
Dear Senator Cortese,
On behalf of Death Penalty Focus, I write in strong support of SB 300, the Sentencing Reform Act of 2021, which will increase fairness in the justice system by reforming California’s unjust “felony murder special circumstance” law by ensuring that the death penalty or life without the possibility of parole (LWOP) will not be imposed on a person who did not kill or intend that a person die during the commission of a felony, such as robbery or burglary. The bill will also address the injustice of mandatory life without parole sentences by restoring to judges the discretion to impose a parole eligible sentence should they deem it best serves the interest of justice.
The death penalty and life without the possibility of parole (LWOP) are punishments so extreme they are virtually unheard of in much of the world. California not only regularly imposes these sentences but currently requires judges to impose them for any adult convicted of “murder with special circumstances,” even if the person did not kill anyone nor intend anyone to die. Like other enhancements, special circumstances law allows for unchecked prosecutorial discretion that has resulted in disturbing racial disparities in death penalty and LWOP sentences. Under current law, if a person dies during the course of certain felonies, even if the death is accidental, anyone involved in the felony is subject to these severe punishments even though the death was not caused by their individual action or intent.
SB 300 will address this injustice by allowing for a sentence other than the death penalty or LWOP for a person who did not kill anyone or intend for anyone to die. This bill takes a modest step towards repealing our unjust special circumstances scheme by allowing judges to impose a parole eligible sentence, should they deem that a death penalty or LWOP sentence is disproportionate. The bill also provides an avenue for currently incarcerated people to petition the court for resentencing, offering recourse to Californians who have been unjustly sentenced to LWOP or execution.
Decades of research have failed to show any public safety benefit from LWOP or the death penalty. On the contrary, severe punishments like these have driven the mass incarceration crisis that has destroyed lives, families, and entire communities, particularly Black and Brown communities that have long been deprived of supportive investments and programs while being targeted by policing, racism, and oppression. Reducing our reliance on punishment and imprisonment, including for people serving extreme sentences, will benefit our communities by returning people to their families and freeing up funds that can be invested in addressing true community safety and well-being.
For these reasons, we thank you for your authorship of this important bill, and support SB 300 (Cortese), the Sentencing Reform Act of 2021. Please contact Death Penalty Focus with any questions.
Sincerely,
Death Penalty Focus Supporters
Honorable Assemblymember Ash Kalra
State Capitol, Room 2196
Sacramento, CA 95814
Re: Support – AB 256 (Kalra), the California Racial Justice Act for All
Dear Assemblymember Kalra,
On behalf of Death Penalty Focus I write in strong support of your AB 256, the California Racial Justice Act for All, which will provide a mechanism for relief for those whose convictions or sentences were based upon race, ethnicity, or national origin. This bill will extend the essential protections of the California Racial Justice Act (AB 2542, 2020) to all Californians.
With the Racial Justice Act, California took a profound step forward in addressing institutionalized and implicit racial bias in our criminal courts by empowering defendants to object to charges, convictions, or punishment if they can show that anyone involved in their case — a judge, attorney, officer, expert witness or juror — demonstrated bias during the process, or if they can show statistical evidence of demographic inequities in charges, convictions, or sentences for the same crime. However, this legislation was prospective; it excluded those who had been harmed prior to January 1, 2021 by the racial bias and discrimination that has long permeated our criminal legal system.
If prohibiting racism in our courts and providing a person a means to remedy racial bias in their case is the right thing to do, it is the right thing to do for everyone. Those with prior, racially biased convictions and sentences deserve equal justice under the law and have waited long enough. Additionally, providing a mechanism for retroactive relief will allow the state to realize significant court and correctional savings.
For these reasons, we support AB 256, the California Racial Justice Act for All, which will make the Racial Justice Act retroactive to ensure that everyone is afforded an opportunity to pursue justice. Please contact Death Penalty Focus for any questions about our position.
Sincerely,
Death Penalty Focus Supporters
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